The Death of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

0:00 [Music] in the 1980s the film industry was growing like never before as big franchise films became the norm and home video formats gained in popularity Studios saw their revenues increase significantly this growth also allowed for smaller fil film companies to find a foot in the door positioning themselves as serious competition for the big studios one independent film studio founded by an Italian immigrant with a larger than life personality would rise to prominence in the mid 1980s producing

0:45 a series of high-profile films and building one of the largest Studio complexes outside of Hollywood although it was one of the most promising Indie Studios of its time the rise and fall of dentus Entertainment Group would be sharp and Swift leaving behind a legacy of chaos and confusion Dino de lenus was born in compa Italy in 1919 the son of a pasta manufacturer Dino studied film at Italy's experimental Center of cinematography before entering into Film Production in his early 20s the producer was on the Forefront of a movement later dubbed Italian neorealism an era of post-world War II Cinema which emphasized an unglamorous and desolate aesthetic often focusing on themes of poverty Y and

1:30 Desperation the films that Dino produced during the 1940s and 1950s made their Mark as he worked with Ur directors like Frederico felini and Roberto rolini on films that achieved International Acclaim Beyond his producing abilities Dino also developed a Savvy business sense during this time creating a system in which he would pre-sell the international rights to a film during the pre-production phase and then used the money to fund the film Dino eventually expanded into to producing International films with American stars and directors and in 1962 he built his own film studio just outside of Rome on an 800 Acre Site the complex became known as Dino and Dino grew into his own producing big lavish films throughout

2:16 the 1960s developing a reputation as being the sisle be demill of his time but in the early 1970s Dino sold his Italian studio and moved to the United States to continue producing films Dino for formed a new company called the dino de lenus corporation which would partner with large Studios to distribute and Market his productions for the American audience this allowed Dino to focus on what he did best getting films made his first American production the crime drama serico starring alpacino was a Smash Hit earning two Academy Award nominations Dino followed serpo with 1974's death wish which established a popular action franchise and 1975's 3 days of the bondor which received an Oscar nomination but Dino's biggest

3:03 success yet was 1976's King Kong a remake of the classic 1933 film while Dino was no stranger to Big epic Productions King Kong was his first true Blockbuster release as the film grossed over $100 million in box office and television revenue and established Dino as a bigname Hollywood producer Dino maintained his artistic credibility by producing films for art housee directors like Robert Alman ingar Bergman and William fedkin but he also had no qualms about capitalizing on the popular trends of the day after the massive success of 1975's Jaws Dino pitched a film which he described as Jaws except this time the shark is the hero the resulting film was 1977's Orca Dino's first foray into American horror films by 1980 Dino was

3:50 delving further into the world of big Blockbusters his first film of the decade was Flash Gordon an adaptation of the popular comic strip which he had been trying to get off the ground since the 1960s the film did respectable numbers at the global box office but was considered a disappointment in the US market in 1981 Dino leaned further into the lucrative horror genre by financing Halloween 2 the sequel to John Carpenter's breakout indie horror film like its predecessor the movie was a hit grossing $25 million in North America off of 25 million budget and with the horror Market growing in the early 1980s Dino financed several lowbudget but notable films in this genre but Dino's true desire was to make big scale Hollywood style movies and unfortunately

4:37 he wasn't having much luck both 1979's hurricane and 1981's rag time were box office flops despite the latter earning eight Oscar nominations in fact none of his films since King Kong had achieved true Blockbuster status but despite the failure of multiple high-profile projects Dino was unphased putting five more films into production to the Hollywood establishment Dino's resilience as an independent producer was confusing his ability to continue making films after suffering flop after flop was astounding leading some to question whether he was funding his films through unsavory organizations Dino denied any connections to organized crime and by most accounts aside from his talents as a producer Dino was said to be a master at raising money for films able to

5:24 convince anyone and everyone to give him the financing he needed to produce big ambitious movies it wouldn't be long before Dino struck gold again in 1982 he produced Conan the Barbarian which was the first of a multifilm deal his production company had struck with famed bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan was released by Universal Pictures to Rave numbers earning nearly $80 million on a $20 million budget and establishing Schwarzenegger as a legitimate film star Conan was also Dino's biggest hit since kinging Kong enabling him to continue forward with even bigger projects in in 1983 Dino produced The Dead Zone an adaptation of Stephen King's novel directed by David Cronenberg the film was generally well-received and shortly after its release production commenced

6:10 on another Stephen King adaptation fir starter which would be distributed by Universal Pictures Dino and his producers chose to shoot the film in Wilmington North Carolina after seeing a magazine cover featuring the city's historic Orton Plantation they eventually secured permission to shoot parts of the film on the estate and took notice of Wilmington for its varied landscape which included beaches and mountains in late 1983 with the filming of Fire Starter still in progress Dino announced his intention to build an entire film studio complex in Wilmington around the sound stages where the movie was being shot aside from its Scenic locations North Carolina boasted right to work laws that limited the power of labor unions enabling Dino to benefit from cheap non-union film Crews at the

6:57 time Dino told the press any movie that would cost 10 million in La I can make in North Carolina for 7 million the producer ultimately invested over $10 million into the building of 10 sound stages along with offices and other facilities on a 32 acre compound which would include permanent outdoor sets mimicking city streets it was estimated that the studio would Infuse $50 to $100 million a year into the local economy with local leaders throwing their support behind the project 1984 would be a big year for Dino's company armed with a fully functioning Studio the company planned on releasing $100 million worth of films the first being an epic period drama called The Bounty starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins the New

7:42 Zealand shot film cost a whopping $20 million to produce but flopped upon its release in May of 1984 only bringing in $18 million fir starter fared slightly better managing to recoup its budget at the box office and the Conan sequel Conan the Destroyer was a modest hit grossing $30 million on an $18 million budget but a lot was writing on the dealer rentis corporation's adaptation of Dune which cost a whopping $40 million to produce and was slated for a December release David Lynch Brash off the critical Hit The Elephant Man was hired to direct the film with Dune being one of the most highly anticipated films of the Year despite the fact that large scale spectacle films were what Dino did best the reception to Dune upon its release was not positive critics derided

8:30 the movie for its convoluted plot with some dubbing it the worst film of 1984 in case I haven't made myself clear I hated watching this film I wish I could have left after 20 minutes I couldn't I had to stay there another two hours dune's box office performance was equally mediocre with the film failing to recoup its massive budget but despite Dune being seen as a failure Dino claims that his initial investment in the film was mostly recovered thanks to him pre-selling its International rights in any case by the mid 1980s de Ino and his company were in trouble his releases in 1985 produced lackluster results as two more Stephen King adaptations cat's eye and Silver Bullet both failed to match the success of the Dead Zone red Sonia Dino's third collaboration with Arnold Schwarzenegger tanked at the box office

9:16 and Dino's most expensive film of the year the neo- Noir Thriller Year of the Dragon Starring Mickey RoR also proved to be a commercial disappointment the company had failed to produce the Blockbuster hit that Dina was chasing and the film industry as a whole was changing by the mid 1980s many motion picture studios had been acquired by larger conglomerates even companies like Disney which was previously family run had been infiltrated by Savvy corporate Executives with little experience in filmmaking who were driven to maximize profits Above All Else the results for these companies was positive as they grew to become monster forces in the industry Dino on the other hand had no corporate experience Rising the ranks as a film producer and succeeding as an executive solely on the momentum of his

10:02 love for film but to compete in the big leagues Dino would have to embrace the corporate mindset at the behest of his advisers Dino acquired the film studio Embassy pictures from the Coca-Cola Company in September of 1985 paying $35 million to buy the distributor in its film Library the acquisition would allow Dino to self-distribute his films for the first time as he aimed to release around 10 films per year with an established distribution Wing under his belt Dino renamed his company deenus Entertainment Group this new incarnation of the studio would be a family affair as Dino appointed his daughter raphaela who had produced Dune and Conan the Barbarian to be the head of production in order to raise the capital

10:47 necessary to continue Dino was advised to take his company public it was estimated that deenus Entertainment Group or deeg for short would need $500 million in capital to get the ball rolling and by going public they could generate a significant portion of this amount but Dino was apprehensive about this move he was a man who made decisions based on instincts and because he had always self-funded his films he was beholden to no one taking the company public would take away his autonomy as he would have to answer to a board of directors as well as shareholders but Dino would eventually relent to the advice of his advisers taking his company public in 1986 and issuing 1.85 million shares of stock at $12 per share Dino's pitch to investors

11:33 seemed straightforward enough deeg would produce its own films for a modest sum of $10 million per picture but sell off the television home video and international rights to other companies this would cover most of a film's budget and cut down on risk deeg would then distribute the film in the US and Canada so if a film succeeded at the North American box office the company would bask in high profits shortly after going public the company's stock ran up to $19 per share as investors clamored at the opportunity to invest in the growing Motion Picture business through the IPO and other bank loans Dino had raised around $300 million for his company a large sum but still $200 million short of what they needed but it was too late

12:18 to turn back so Dino forged ahead hoping that his films would be big enough hits to generate the funds necessary to continue with an in-house distribution system set up and a lineup of notable films 1986 would provide a chance for deeg to establish itself as a big-time independent Studio the first official released by The renamed company was the action film Raw Deal which fulfilled Arnold Schwarzenegger's multi-film contract with the studio released in June of 1986 the film was a disappointment at the box office grossing significantly less than the Conan films the following month would see the release of Maximum Overdrive yet another Stephen King adaptation which Dino had convinced the horror Master to direct himself the film was a complete flop

13:04 receiving poor reviews along with two golden raspberry nominations an August's release of Manhunter an adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel red dragon also flopped earning back only half of its budget the company Diversified its offerings by acquiring the rights to distribute two animated children's movies during the summer of 1986 Transformers the movie and My Little Pony the movie despite both films films being based on popular Hasbro franchises neither was a commercial success but the company's prospects became more hopeful with the fall release of David Lynch's blue velvet despite the disappointment of Dune Dino believed in Lynch's Talent enough to fund his next film giving Lynch full creative control and Final Cut privileges the result was a mystery

13:51 thriller starring Kyle mlin Isabella rousel and Dennis Hopper about a young college student who becomes in mesed in a Strange World of undergrad criminals the Venice Film Festival refused to play the film due to some violent scenes and though it was not a commercial success blue velvet made its mark on the culture and became a cult hit earning David Lynch a Best Director nomination at the 1986 Academy Awards as well as several Golden Globe nominations 1986 was also the year that Dino announced his intention to create yet another Studio complex this time in Australia where he would partner with the state of Queensland to build a facility in the Gold Coast region the country's film industry was seeing a boom in the 1980s with the Australian produced film crocodile dunde becoming a huge Global hit Dino hoped to capitalize

14:40 on this by creating a new company deor antis limited which would produce films in Australia and sell them to deeg for distribution many were skeptical as the Gold Coast region was primarily a vacation destination and seemed ill suited for movie making but Dino dreamed of turning the region into a hot spot spot for Film Production and forged ahead with his plan back in the US deeg's next release was the lowbudget horror film tricker treat which was released in October to modest numbers but the Studio's existence was writing on three films which were scheduled for release in late 1986 taian a $25 million Epic Adventure film which was shot on location in China Crimes of the Heart a $20 million comedy drama with an A-list cast and King Kong

15:26 Lives the sequel to Dino's 19 76 Kong film which reportedly cost $18 million to produce first up was taian which was released in November to a dismal $2 million gross Crimes of the Heart proved to be another disappointment and though King Kong Lives had the most commercial potential of the three films it was ultimately slammed by critics and ignored by audiences grossing just $4 million domestically because deeg had pre-sold the home video and television rights for these films the losses were not as bad as they could have been but the problem with Dino's business model is that it was not sustainable with such a poor track record after these huge flops it would be very hard to pre-sell the rights to Future films thus it would be very difficult to raise the funds needed to continue financing movies the

16:13 studio still needed big box office hits in order to survive and in this regard 1986 had been a brutal year ever The Optimist Dino pushed forward opening a seventh Sound Stage at the Wilmington studio and announcing plans to build two more 19 1987 would see the release of Evil Dead 2 which Dino's company had financed though it was released under a shell distributor in order to skirt MPAA regulations the film was a minor box office hit but the company's other 1987 releases failed to light up the box office their big summer release million dooll mystery had hoped to draw in audiences with a gimmick the film's plot involved a swindler who hid four bundles containing $1 million each in separate locations three of these stash would be

16:59 discovered by the characters of the film while the fourth stash would go unfound if an audience member correctly guessed the location of the unfound stash the viewer would win a $1 million prize from the studio despite this epic promotional push the film ironically failed to even gross $1 million at the box office generating a sickly $989,000 against a $10 million budget and unfortunately for Dino million dooll mystery failure would be the last straw as the studio he bu would come crumbling down the company had posted massive losses in 1987 losing 15.5 million in one single quarter due to their inability to pay back loans the company's film library was even at risk of being taken over by its Bank

17:45 creditors the chaos at deeg also impacted dealer rentus limited and the Gold Coast Studio which had commenced production on a high budget sci-fi film entitled Total Recall the film was to be based on a Philip K short story and while $8 million had already been spent on sets and other pre-production expenses production was grinded to a halt due to deeg's financial difficulties and the existing sets were destroyed dealer rentis limited would eventually separate from deeg completely with the Australian Media Company Village Road Show purchasing the division and its Studio facility Dino himself was said to be deeply distressed by the company's failures with a source telling the Press he's the first one in the office every day no matter how sick tired or busy he is but in order to

18:33 salvage the company he would need to raise an extremely high amount of capital in a very short amount of time rumors emerged that 20th Century Fox Paramount and HBO were all interested in buying a piece of deeg but Dino reportedly did not want to give up control of the company rejecting an offer which would have edged him out as the company's largest stockholder raphaela Deen has subsequently resigned as the company's production head and by November deeg's stock had sunk to just $2.50 per share shortly thereafter Dino announced his intention to resign as chairman and chief executive of deenus Entertainment Group Dino would remain the company's largest shareholder owning 70% of its stock but would return to being an independent producer full-time

19:19 starting work on a new film entitled Desperate Hours in March of 1988 deeg announced that it would be selling the foreign home video and cable rights to its 320 film library to the owner of French Telecom giant parap France Communications despite the revenue from the sale deeg officially filed for bankruptcy protection in August of 1988 having lost $70 million the previous year the films that were in production by deeg at this time were sheld with some being sold off to other Studios one of these films was Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure which was in post- production when the company went bankrupt several former executives at deeg had joined Nelson entertainment which acquired the rights to Bill and Ted and then struck a deal with Orion

20:04 pictures to distribute it in the US released in February of 1989 the $10 million film was a hit grossing over $40 million domestically had circumstances been slightly different Bill and Ted could have been the film that saved the dealer anus Entertainment Group but unfortunately for the studio its fate had been sealed and in April of 1989 an agreement was announced for the bankrupt Studio to be purchased by fellow Indie Studio Carol Co pictures Carol Co had risen to prominence in the 1980s as well striking gold through its series of Rambo films starring Sylvester Stallone looking to expand Carol Co had its eye on deeg's impressive catalog of films along with its North Carolina Studio facility but as the details of the purchase were being worked out an

20:50 unexpected curveball came when a new bid was put in to buy deeg by Dino deenus himself partnered with Italian financier Juan car Paretti owner of path Communications the duo offered $41.5 million to acquire de and it appeared that despite all of the failings of his company Dino refused to let go of his dream of building a prominent studio for reasons that are unclear the offer never went through with path Communications purchasing a different failing film company Canon films shortly thereafter Carol Co Acquired deeg and all of its assets officially marking the end of deenus Entertainment Group Dino later blamed the company's failure on his inexperience in the corporate world saying I had no familiarity with

21:36 American public companies and I had the wrong people around me Dino also claimed that his advisers had convinced him to pass on Distributing films that would later become big hits namely Good morning Vietnam and Crocodile Dundee in his biography he reflected they convinced me to make some bad movies and not to make some good ones but you know what life goes on you learn to get past your problems and start again never one to dwell on the past Dino soon formed a new production company entitled Dino deenus Communications one of the company's first projects would be Sometimes they come back a Stephen King adaptation which aired as a TV movie on CBS he also partnered with universal to release two films he had in production cuffs an action comedy starring Christian Slater an Army of Darkness the

22:23 third film in the Evil Dead franchise despite his colossal failures in the 1980s the 1990s were looking bright for Dino however a series of legal battles and other obstacles were about to manifest which threatened to sabotage Dino's chance of success in early 1991 Orion pictures released the psychological Thriller the Silence of the Lambs which was based on Thomas Harris's 1988 novel of the same name the movie starred Anthony Hopkins as the serial killer Hannibal Lecter a character which had first appeared on screen in deeg's Manhunter back when Dino had acquired the rights to adapt the film from the book red dragon his contract guaranteed him the right to option the Hannibal Lector character for future uses this meant

23:08 that if Manhunter was a success Dino would have first dibs on adapting any future Hannibal Lector books Manhunter ultimately performed poorly at the box office and received mixed reviews so when Dino was approached about doing an adaptation of Thomas Harris's next Hannibal novel he passed on the project granting Orion the right to use the character in their film for free as it turned out Silence of the Lambs went on to become a huge sleeper hit grossing hundreds of millions of dollars and winning five Oscars including best picture by 1992 it was reported that the film's director Jonathan Demi along with its Stars jod Foster and Anthony Hopkins were eager to return for a sequel but the film's distributor Orion pictures had recently succumbed to bankruptcy prompting Universal Pictures to step up

23:55 to produce the sequel and because dins still owned the rights to Hannibal and was producing Army of Darkness for Universal a collaboration between the two companies seemed likely and logical however in February of 1992 Dino filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios claiming they were blackmailing him into surrendering his rights to the Hannibal character it was reported that the head of universal Tom Pollock had approached Dino about going in 5050 on a Silence of the Lamb's sequel with Dino and Universal splitting the cost of production and Universal Distributing the film while the agreement was made verbally Dino reportedly refused to make the deal official instead asking for an extra $200,000 from the studio to finish Army of Darkness Universal agreed to

24:40 provide the extra money and extend the film's deadline on the condition that Dino let them co-produce and distribute The Silence of the Lamb sequel Dino said that this was blackmail and sued Universal for the right to release Army of Darkness with a different Studio Universal subsequently counter sued asserting its right to make The Silence of the Lamb sequel based on their alleged verbal agreement amidst all of this turmoil Army of Darkness was pulled from its initial summer 1992 release date however the two parties eventually settled their differences with Army of Darkness being released by Universal in February of 1993 and Dino agreeing to work with universal on the sequel to Silence of the Lambs the only problem now was that Thomas Harris author of the Hannibal books was still in the process of writing the sequel so the film

25:26 adaptation would have to wait in the meantime Dino continued producing films for various Studios and television networks his 1996 production bound was notable for being the directorial debut of The Sibling filmmaking Duo the wowski who would go on to create the Matrix series but none of the films Dino produced during this era were huge breakout hits and the producer was still actively pursuing The Silence of the Lamb sequel Dino saw an opportunity to create a franchise out of the Hannibal Lector character stating in an interview he's as big a star as Tom Cruz and you know why audiences love him because he kills lots of people eager for Harris to finish the sequel novel Dino and his wife would reportedly fly to Harris's home in Florida taking along their

26:12 private Chef to cook Italian cuisine for the writer hoping that their whining and dining would encourage him to complete the book that faithful day finally came in 1999 when it was announced that Harris had completed the manuscript to the book entitled Hannibal Dino quickly scooped up the film adaptation rights before the novel's release paying a record $10 million which was the highest amount ever paid for an adaptation of a book the novel was a huge Commercial Success selling 1 million copies in its first two weeks but the overall reaction to the book was mixed director Jonathan Demi dropped out of the project due to his dissatisfaction with the material and in December 1999 jod Foster announced that she would not be returning as Clarice darling but Dina

26:57 was not not phased by these setbacks reportedly saying the pope dies you get another Pope while Universal agreed to co-produce the 87 million film adaptation of Hannibal MGM was brought in to distribute the film as universal had reservations about taking such a high risk Ridley Scott was brought in to direct and Julianne Moore was recruited to fill the Clarice Starling role with Anthony Hopkins reportedly being paid $1 million to return as Hannibal a full decade after the release of Silence of the Lambs Hannibal was released into theaters in February 2001 to huge Fanfare grossing a record $58 million its opening weekend while the critical response did not match that of its predecessor Hannibal went on to gross over $ 350 million worldwide

27:45 becoming by far the highest grossing film that Dino had ever produced after Decades of trying to break out as an independent producer with a big Blockbuster bankrupting an entire studio in the process Dino had finally succeeded producing not only one of the highest grossing films of the year but a film which established a lucrative franchise in 2001 Dino was honored with the Irving thalberg Oscar award an award given to recognize creative producers who produce high quality films with these crowning achievements under his belt Dino continued to produce the occasional film But ultimately the producer extraordinaire had accomplished what he had set out to in 2010 Dino passed away at his home in bever Hills at the age of 991 while Dino's

28:31 trajectory was an unusual one his career tells us a lot about the film industry in the 20th century the post World War II era was a time when a passionate film producer could rise to the top creating an Empire based on Ingenuity and Instinct however Dino's natural skills as a producer were no match for the corporate world of the 1980s in which maximizing profits became the end all be many of Dino's choices seemed illogical on this surface but in the end they often worked out his decision to build Studios in Wilmington North Carolina and the Gold Coast were highly risky yet both regions have since become thriving locations for Film Production his choice of films was equally risky and while most of them were not commercial hits many of these films have since become

29:17 cult classics proving that Dino's instincts were ultimately correct the film industry may never again see a figure quite like Dino deenus but his passion lives on through the iconic films he produced which will continue to entertain audiences for generations to come if you enjoyed this video please hit the like And subscribe buttons and if you'd like to support me on patreon you can find the link in the description [Music]